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DEREK VAN DIEST, QMI Agency

EDMONTON - Peter Dempsey showed an impressive ability to bounce back this weekend.

The Firestone Indy Lights driver was able to finish third in the second race on Sunday after crashing out in spectacular fashion the day before.

"Yeah, for sure it was better than (Saturday)," smiled Dempsey. "The last thing I wanted to do was end up on my roof again after the guys worked so hard last night to put the car back together."

Dempsey was lucky to walk away from his car Saturday after making contact with Victor Carbone heading into the first turn, hitting the wall and flipping his car. At the time it appeared as though the native of Ashbourne, Ireland would not be able to race on Sunday.

"Thankfully I got away with very little damage," Dempsey said. "That made it a little bit easier to get back in the car. I got away lightly even though the car was upside down, so I was blessed."

Psychologically, Dempsey did not have any hesitation about getting back into the car to race again the following day.

"I actually had not seen the crash until I got back to the hotel that night," said Dempsey. "I couldn't believe how big of a crash that was, ending up upside down.

"But it didn't affect me. I just wanted to get back in the car and try to get a good result (Sunday). I'm glad we were able to do that."

It was somewhat of a surprise Dempsey was fine physically, as well.

Other drivers have done far worse damage on less spectacular incidents.

"Surprisingly, I didn't need to go to medical," Dempsey said. "I was expecting they were going to go check me out. But it was a very soft roll, I just kind of popped up in the air and landed on the roof.

"After it happened, I was just sitting in the cockpit and trying to decide when to unbuckle my seatbelt so I wouldn't damage my neck."